“What… What did you do?!”
A small static charge flowed through the entire room, accompanied by fog.
I knew he might have some weapons, but… I never expected him to point one at his head.
I couldn’t see properly because of the fog.
[Thump-]
I picked up the gun from the floor and looked around, but for some reason, he, who had been there just a moment ago, was gone.
Did he escape…?
Just as suspicion and unease sent a chill down my spine, the fog slowly began to dissipate.
And then.
“Who… are you…”
Long black hair and dramatically larger breasts… and even bigger eyes and a slender nose, making for an overall cute face…
She looked to be in her early twenties.
“W-Who are you…?”
She answered with a delicate voice, as if she didn’t know anything, which made me inexplicably angry.
[Thump-]
“Kyaa! Why suddenly…”
When I grabbed her—no, her—by the collar, she started to sob a little.
Strangely, the previous unknown, bizarre feeling was gone, making me feel like I was the villain.
“Please… spare me…”
She cried and grabbed my arm, and I felt a soft touch.
…It felt like she was being sincere.
[Thud-]
She was no longer the “he” I knew.
I let her go, and she started to look around, whimpering for a moment.
Well, it’s not like an organization with that kind of technology couldn’t create memory-erasing technology.
“Haa…”
I was so tense that my body gave out, and I sat down on the floor.
I’ve been confused about what’s going on since yesterday, and my body wouldn’t move properly.
…I didn’t want to do anything anymore.
I’d had burnout during my time as a detective, but I didn’t expect it to come so quickly.
Experiencing things that I only saw in movies made me feel powerless and unable to move.
The biggest problem is that I’m the next target now…
Come to think of it, Kongyu said he’d tell me the location if I won.
Looking at “him,” now “her,” I saw something lumpy in her left pocket.
As I barely managed to stand up, she recognized me and started to back away little by little.
[Thud… Thud…]
“Um…! Why are you coming…”
“…Just bear with me for a moment.”
I slowly approached and grabbed both of her arms with one hand.
Even if she had lost her memory, there was a possibility that she would take out a weapon.
[Rustle…]
“Please don’t… don’t do that… please…”
Did she misunderstand something?
I searched her pocket, but there weren’t as many things in it as I thought.
Considering Kongyu’s madness, I thought there would be an eyeball or something.
As I continued to search, I felt the texture of paper.
I took it out… it was a folded piece of origami paper.
“Do you… know what this is?”
“Huh…? I didn’t even know I had something like this in my pocket…”
She made a similar sullen expression as before, but strangely, I didn’t feel the unique unpleasantness.
Could even Kongyu, who was tainted with that madness, be a product of his environment…?
I unfolded the origami paper.
[Gureopdo]
Only three letters were written.
Gureopdo… is that an island in Incheon?
It was an island name that I felt like I should know, but I couldn’t quite remember.
First, I put the paper in my pocket and tried to open the door.
…Come to think of it, the interrogation must have been over a long time ago.
I turned on my phone, and 10 minutes had just passed.
Why can’t I hear any noise from outside?
Feeling uneasy, I grabbed the pistol with both hands and aimed in advance.
“Um… me too…!”
“Sorry, but you’re going to have to stay here for a while.”
She seemed to dislike this dark and gloomy space.
…I definitely have to see her as a completely different person now.
“Hoo…”
The air around the door felt heavy, so I took a deep breath.
[Bang-!]
I came out into the hallway and looked around, but there wasn’t a single person who had been there just a moment ago.
Did everyone go to eat…?
But something was strange.
Usually, in a situation where an interrogation is being conducted, they wouldn’t leave only me behind in case of an emergency…
I could roughly guess from the CCTV footage from earlier, but was this place really taken over too?
If an organization with this level of technology and infrastructure existed, it was a national-level crisis.
[Thud… Thud…]
I tried to make as little noise as possible as I looked around, but I still couldn’t see anyone.
It was so quiet that my whole body felt chilled.
I arrived near the entrance of the police station, but the documents were still disorganized.
It was as if everyone had suddenly disappeared while they were busy moving around…
Then.
[Click-]
“W-Who is it!”
“Whoa, whoa! It’s me!”
I turned around at the sound of the door opening…
Detective Lim was there.
When I saw the familiar face, I lowered the pistol I was aiming and grabbed his arm.
“What the hell happened?”
“It’s dangerous here, so follow me first.”
Strangely, he readily complied with my words and came out of the entrance.
First… I had to get in the car.
I pressed the car key, and the lights of a familiar black car nearby turned on.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like anything had been done to the car.
“Get in.”
“…Okay.”
Just as he was about to open the front seat door,
…A sudden question arose.
Was it because he was my role model, or was it because I was relieved?
No matter how much I thought about it, it was suspicious that he was the only one coming in so leisurely when everyone else had disappeared.
As he was about to open the front seat door, I couldn’t waste any more time.
“H-Hands up…”
“Huh? Why are you doing this…”
[Thump-]
“Hands up!!”
When I pointed the gun at his head, he seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and slowly started to raise his hands above his head.
Pointing a gun at my role model’s head felt pretty terrible.
It was like pointing a gun at myself…
But if I delayed any longer, I could be in danger.
I slowly approached and started to handcuff his wrists.
His hands felt heavier than usual.
I was feeling burned out from earlier, so I didn’t have much motivation.
[Chik-]
After locking the handcuff ring, I pushed his body away.
“Haa… Now get in the back seat of the car.”
Unlike his usual self, he obediently sat in the back seat of the car, and I quickly opened the front door and grabbed the steering wheel.
[Vroom-]
The car started with a short engine sound, but I had no idea where to go.
Should I tell the chief about this…?
There was a possibility that the chief was also involved with that organization.
Should I tell the government or the military about this?
If their organization was at that level, there was a possibility that there were spies there too.
I couldn’t trust anyone anymore…
“If you don’t have anywhere to go, can I tell you one place?”
Detective Lim, who was in the back, suddenly spoke, and I was momentarily taken aback.
He wasn’t flustered after what just happened, and he was trying to help even in this situation.
It seemed like he knew something.
“Do you know… something…?”
“182-18, 201 Villa. There’s a game champion there.”
He suddenly gave me important information, so I turned on my phone.
A land number address… that was pretty old-fashioned.
I wrote it down, but… there was a high possibility that it was a trap.
“…Are you lying?”
“…I used to play the game just like you.”
I couldn’t keep up with the shocking words that followed.
“Where!?”
“At that pig’s feet restaurant you saw from your seat.”
At that pig’s feet restaurant I saw last time…?
But there was no one around.
Was he kidnapped or something?
“…”
“You can take off the handcuffs at that place, so let’s go quickly.”
Looking at his expression, it seemed like he was taking this incident pretty seriously too.
He, who had often shown unusual behavior as a YouTuber during the investigation process.
He was making a pretty serious expression now.
“Haa… Okay. I’ll trust you this time.”
I turned on the map, and fortunately, it seemed like it could handle old-fashioned addresses too.
I stepped on the accelerator, and after a short while, the car started to leave the police station with a rattling sound…
…
Honestly, I regret not dropping out of this investigation.
If I had dropped out as Deokyoung said, Deokyoung wouldn’t have ended up like that, and neither would the people around me…
The situation was going haywire, and my head was still confused.
But the situation wasn’t waiting for me.
When I arrived and opened the car door, I saw a villa.
It looked more shabby than I thought for the house of a game champion.
I thought the prize money was 3 billion won…
“Um… can you open the back door?”
Ah… come to think of it, I hadn’t taken off Detective Lim’s handcuffs.
[Click-]
Even so, was what happened earlier a trauma?
He carefully started to come out and slowly distanced himself from me.
…Honestly, it hurt my heart that my role model was holding a grudge against me and distancing himself.
If I could, I wanted to improve our relationship somehow…
Even though he had a sufficient alibi and was my role model, I was still suspicious of him.
“I’m really sorry… but I don’t think I can take off the handcuffs. I’m really sorry.”
He seemed to understand and nodded for a moment before walking towards the villa.
The front door was broken, or rather, it was open from the beginning.
I slowly entered the villa, and there was mold everywhere.
The elevator seemed to be broken, so Detective Lim and I walked up to the second floor via the stairs.
“Haa…”
Even in this situation, what happened earlier kept coming to mind.
If the day ever comes when I can resolve the grudge with Detective Lim, I will do everything I can to resolve it.
If possible, I’d also find out how to undo the feminization that Deokyoung was subjected to…
I wasn’t sure, but there was no way that an organization with that level of technology wouldn’t have a way to reverse it.
Then, Detective Lim stood in front of a door and gave me a look, so I slowly walked forward.
Honestly, I was a little nervous about what the game champion would look like…
“Hoo…”
After a simple mental deep breath.
[Creak-]
I walked in with the sound of the old door opening.
